The Push: A Sequel to The Pull Read Online Free PDF Page A

and watched him, waiting for some sort of answer to how this all could’ve happened.
    “Okay,” the doctor finally said. “Was it explained to you what exactly happened to Mr. Thorne last night?”
    I glanced over at Livvy. She had her hands folded in front of her as she sat up perfectly straight as if she were trying not to break down, like she had all of her hope and future placed in this doctor in the white lab coat standing before us.
    “The surgeon explained a little last night, but I’m afraid I wasn’t able to focus very well. Something about abnormalities of an artery?” Livvy asked, her voice unsteady and quiet.
    Dr. Hummell nodded. “Correct. Mr. Thorne, being in his middle 30s, is a reasonably healthy man. He’s had no history of anything except some depression in the past…”
    For when his wife was taken abruptly from him, I thought to myself.
    “And so why does this go unnoticed in a man like Mr. Thorne for so long? Well, something brought it on last night, stress or exertion…”
    “He was only cleaning off the kitchen table,” Livvy informed him.
    The doctor nodded again. “In healthy men like Mr. Thorne, unfortunately abnormalities of the arteries do go unnoticed until something brings them on. This is a congenital defect.”
    “Meaning what?” my dad questioned him.
    “Meaning Mr. Thorne’s had this since birth. The defect is the shape of one of the arteries of the heart. The heart depends on the arteries to get its blood supply, oxygen, and nutrients. Therefore, this artery had been lacking in that department, and the heart wasn’t able to get the proper source of blood needed, thus giving Mr. Thorne a myocardial infarction, an MI.”
    “A heart attack,” Livvy whispered.
    “Exactly. A heart attack.” The doctor’s gaze moved back to Darin. “Now surgery was performed last night to help correct the defect so that the heart muscle could receive proper blood flow once again. There was some damage done to the muscle during the MI, however, and they had to shock his heart back into working not once, but twice according to notes. There’s been significant damage to Mr. Thorne, and as you can see,” he said pointing to the monitor, “his blood pressure continues to be lower than we would like along with a very slow pulse.”
    “How long till he gets better, doc?” I threw in, taking note how Livvy’s face had now drained of color while listening to the man’s words.
    The doctor pressed his lips together and looked down at his computer for a moment. “He’s still not doing well. We have him on medication to try and bring the pressure and heart rhythm back up to speed. He’s not responding to it, however, so it’s just a matter of time of monitoring and continuing to administer medication to him. The next few days of observation will tell us exactly what kind of prognosis we’re looking at here.”
    “What are you thinking in terms of prognosis based off of how Darin’s doing now?” my mother asked.
    I was instantly pissed she’d asked that question after he’d just rambled on about how poorly my brother was doing. I was concerned about Livvy right now. She didn’t look so good, and I didn’t think she could take the words I knew were about to slip out of the doctor’s mouth, but I sat there without exploding on anyone, waiting to hear more about my brother’s doom.
    Dr. Hummell paused for a moment. “Right now, with the way things have been since the surgery without much change, if things don’t start to improve soon, Mr. Thorne’s prognosis isn’t looking too promising.” He nodded his head at us. “I’ll be back around later to check in on him. If you have any questions, the nurses can communicate with me.”
    “Thank you, doctor,” my dad said, leaning over to shake his hand again.
    “Oh, one more thing,” my mother chimed in. “This is Darin’s brother. How likely is it that he has the same congenital defect?”
    The doctor turned on his heels at the